Search Engine Optimisation in Digital Marketing

SEO is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing and what every small and medium-scale business must focus on.

Firstly, what is SEO? This simply means search engine optimisation. This is the type of visibility a business gets from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo Search and other search engines.

With SEO, the website, YouTube or social media accounts of the business are crawled, indexed and ranked by search engines and then served to the billions of people searching for something on the platform.

It is one of the best forms of digital marketing, and we are going to be going deep into this. For the sake of this article, Google will be used to represent all search engines. This means that when the word Google is used, it can also be substituted by other search engines like Bing and Yahoo.

How SEO Works

Search engine optimisation can simply be defined as a way of optimising the digital platforms of a business such that Google correctly makes sense of the platform, properly categorises it, and then serves it to billions of internet users.

Several people are searching for your business. The role of SEO is to optimise your business websites and social media platforms so that Google can recommend them to these users, thereby attracting users and potential buyers.

Using a simple illustration, I need shoes for my graduation and do not have a clue about what to buy. I can go on Google and type “best shoe for men for graduation”. Now, you as a shoe seller would have given an answer to this question on your website, so much that Google sees your website as valuable enough to provide me the answer to my search. Through this, I, the user, am directed to your website, get more information, and ultimately buy from your website.

How do search engines index and Rank

Five important factors help search engines understand what your website is about and properly categorise your platform.

• Keywords
• Articles/Contents
• Backlinks
• Domain Name
• Website Title and Tagline

1. Keywords

Keywords are very important; in fact, I consider them to be what can either make or mar your SEO. This starts from having the right keywords in the website title and tagline, keywords that can easily make Googlebot understand what your website is all about and index them accordingly. Also, writing content around the keywords that suit Google algorithms and what your buyers want.

2. Contents

The content on your website is vital in optimising your website. Content helps the search engine to make sense of what your website is all about. Therefore, you must have enough content consistently posted on your website about what your business is all about.

The aim of Google is simple, which is to serve the best or provide the best answer to their audience. Therefore, your content must be of such quality that it beats other competitors enough that Google finds you to be the best for what their users are looking for.

Content is of two types: informational and buying content. We will discuss this fully in another blog post titled Search Engine Content, where we will dive more into writing the best and winning content for your website, YouTube and other platforms. So, the aim is to write articles that suit the Google algorithm and still serve your readers well.

3. Backlinks

Backlinks are just the ways other websites give you a shoutout by linking your website or the content on your website to their website. I am sure you have been on a website and clicked on a link that takes you to another website. Yes, that is a backlink. The website you get a backlink from is the website you were on.

Google believes that if other quality websites are talking about your business, then you must be an authority in your domain; therefore, they give a stronger signal to your website such that, when people search for something, your website is trusted enough to be suggested by Google among the top websites.

Therefore, while optimising for organic search, you must provide good content and credibility so much that other websites find you worthy enough to link to you.

4. Domain Name

Ranking your website starts from your choice of domain name. Your domain name is the first thing Google encounters when crawling your website, and it is more advisable to choose something that reflects what your website is about. A person selling fabrics would gain more with a domain name like fabrics.com than any other domain name. You are presently on “egrowthhq.com”; this means online growth headquarters. Even without explanation, you understand what the website offers and that also benefits you with search engines.

5. Website Title and Tagline

The title of the website and the tagline are very important. As a rule, I would want my tagline to be a short-tail keyword with high search volume. This helps the search engine to also properly index and rank my website in the correct category.

Why SEO is an Important Digital Marketing Strategy

There is much importance of SEO for your business’s online presence, and we are going to talk about the most important ones.

1. Builds Trust and Credibility

When your website is recommended by Google to internet users, they tend to trust your brand more because they believe you must be credible enough to show on Google’s first-page search results.

2. Increases Website Traffic

As I said, there are billions of people using search engines every day. Of course, you may not need a billion people to get to your website. However, the more and higher you rank on search engines, the more traffic you get to your website, which may also translate to sales/conversion.

3. Higher Conversion

I believe SEO attracts more targeted buyers than other types of digital marketing. For instance, if someone types “best necklace for 20-year-old” on search engines, it is most likely that the person wanted to buy a necklace for themselves or a friend or family member who is 20 years old. When such people are directed to your website, there is a high chance they are going to buy the necklace from you, thereby increasing your conversion percentage.

4. Lasting Result

Unlike paid ads, SEO provides organic traffic, and once your website ranks for the right keywords, you get constant traffic who would likely buy what is on your website. These users are from Google search and are completely free, and search results can stay for a lifetime as long as you do not engage in black SEO and you keep your website content fresh all the time.

5. Good Support for Other Ads

SEO can serve as a good support for other digital marketing channels like social media ads, search engine marketing, also known as paid search, Google Ads and so on.

6. Improves User Experience

One important factor that affects the ranking of a website is the user experience. There is something called bounce rate. This is the rate at which people leave a website after opening it. To rank higher, this rate must be low, thereby forcing a website owner to properly ensure a great user experience.

Types of SEO

There are three core pillars of SEO. They are

• Technical SEO
• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• Local SEO

1. Technical SEO

This is the aspect where the website is made available for search engines to crawl. In other words, making the website more accessible and crawlable to the Google bots.

2. On-Page SEO

This is the optimisation that is done within the website. This includes writing the best and winning articles and content on the website, using proper keywords, optimising the images, ensuring the slug carries the targeted keywords for the article, and other important steps to take. I will be writing about On-Page SEO separately in another article to help you understand the best practices on it.

3. Off-Page SEO

This simply means the authority you build in your niche through quality backlinks put in the right anchor text. The quality of your backlink is also important because not all links pointing to your website are helpful. Some links can even hurt your website more. More about Off-page will also be discussed in a separate article for us to dive deeper into it.

4. Local SEO

Local SEO is very important for service-based and product-selling businesses. It is the act of making your business available to people within your locality. For instance, someone searching for “best plumber near me” should be able to see your Google Business Profile, which you have made available and perfectly optimised. The best Google Business Profile should contain the following:

• Accurate business name
• Address
• Phone number
• Website
• Business category
• Opening hours
• Photos
• Services offered
• Customer reviews

Local SEO targets your immediate environment, and it’s a good one to consider if your business favours the people around you more.

How SEO Differs from SEM

Although I am going to write a separate article on Search Engine Marketing, I feel the need to quickly make you see the difference between the two using just a few words. SEM, also known as PPC, is the marketing option where you pay search engines to put your business on the front page when people search for specific keywords. The difference between them is that, for SEO, you do not pay; Google mainly recommends your website on merit. It is not fast/quick to get results on SEO, while in PPC, you can get the top spot on search engines just by paying. We will go deeper into this in another article.

Final Words

SEO is one of the best digital marketing strategies and most likely my favourite one. I started my journey into digital marketing through SEO. It was fun, and the happiness that comes when you see some of your websites ranking well on search engines even makes it more nostalgic. However, for your business, there must be that perfect balance between all the digital marketing you engage in, which we are here to help you at egrowthHQ.com